R&D SDM 1 Software Project Management Team Management Project organizations

R&D SDM 1Software Project ManagementTeam ManagementProject organizations 2009 Theo Schouten

Content People, motivation, management Working in groups Group organization Organization paradigms Book: (21.) Project Management Concepts (especially 21.2) (2.6.2) Team Software process (4.2.2) Human Factors (Agile team) (17.3) The Web engineering Team

People People Technology Process • People are an organisation’s most important assets. • The tasks of a manager are essentially people-oriented. Unless there is some understanding of people, management will be unsuccessful. • Poor people management is an important contributor to project failure.

Stakeholders • senior managers: define business issues • project (technical) managers: plan, motivate, organize and control the workers • practitioners: deliver the technical skills • customers: specify the requirements or have other interests in the product (finance, maintenance, etc.) • end-users: use the software after release

People management factors • Consistency • Team members should all be treated in a comparable way without favourites or discrimination. • Respect • Different team members have different skills and these differences should be respected. • Inclusion • Involve all team members and make sure that people’s views are considered. • Honesty • You should always be honest about what is going well and what is going badly in a project.

MOI model of leadership • Motivation: • the ability to encourage (by push or pull) technical people to produce to their best ability • Organization: • the ability to mold existing processes (or find new ones) that will enable the initial concept to be translated into a final product • Ideas or innovation: • the ability to encourage people to create and feel creative even when they must work within bounds

Motivation by satisfying needs (Maslov) • Physiological needs (e.g. food, sleep, etc.) • Safety needs • Social needs • Provide communal facilities; • Allow informal communications. • Esteem needs • Recognition of achievements; • Appropriate rewards. • Self-realization needs • Training - people want to learn more; • Responsibility.

Personality types • Motivation should also take into account different personality types: • Task-oriented • The principal motivation for doing the work is the work itself • Self-oriented • The principal motivation is personal success and recognition. The work is a means to an end which is the achievement of individual goals - e.g. to get rich, etc. • Interaction-oriented • The principal motivation is the presence and actions of co-workers. People go to work because they like to go to work.

Characteristics of software teams Innovation Delivery of reliable software with predictable good quality and performance Solving complex problems Working under time pressure Many different roles (programmer, analyst, architect, tester, librarian, database administrator, technical project leader, program manager, etc.)

…continued • Interaction between software team and user organization • Combination of ‘technical skills’ and ‘soft skills’: • getting user requirements • user interfaces for non-technical users • web design team, content providers • Combination of technical, human and management aspects • Combinations present in whole team and individual members in different ways

Working in groups factors The following factors influence the working in groups: Group composition: Is there a good balance of skills, experience and personalities in a team? Group cohesion: Thinks the group of itself as a team or is it a gathering of individuals that work together? Group communication: Is the communication in the group effective? Group organization: Is the group organized such that every member feels that he is respected and is satisfied with the role he plays?

Group composition • Group composed of members who share the same motivation can be problematic • Task-oriented - everyone wants to do their own thing; • Self-oriented - everyone wants to be the boss; • Interaction-oriented - too much chatting, not enough work. • An effective group has a balance of all types. • This can be difficult to achieve software engineers are often task-oriented. • Interaction-oriented people are very important as they can detect and defuse tensions that arise

Group cohesiveness • In a cohesive group, members consider the group to be more important than any individual in it. • The advantages of a cohesive group are: • Group quality standards can be developed • Group members work closely together so inhibitions caused by ignorance are reduced • Team members learn from each other and get to know each other’s work • Egoless programming where members strive to improve each other’s programs can be practiced.

Developing cohesiveness • Cohesiveness is influenced by factors such as the organizational culture and the personalities in the group. • Cohesiveness can be encouraged through • Social events • Developing a group identity and territory • Explicit team-building activities • Openness with information is a simple way of ensuring all group members feel part of the group

Group communications • Good communications are essential for effective group working. • Information must be exchanged on the status of work, design decisions and changes to previous decisions. • Good communications also strengthens group cohesion as it promotes understanding.

Factors in group communications • Group size • The larger the group, the harder it is for people to communicate with other group members. • Group structure • Communication is better in informally structured groups than in hierarchically structured groups. • Group composition • Communication is better when there are different personality types in a group and when groups are mixed rather than single sex. • The physical work environment • Good workplace organization can help encourage communications.

Group organization • Small software engineering groups are usually organized informally without a rigid structure: • The group acts as a whole and comes to a consensus on decisions affecting the system. • The group leader serves as the external interface of the group but does not allocate specific work items. • Rather, work is discussed by the group as a whole and tasks are allocated according to ability and experience. • This approach is successful for groups where all members are experienced and competent • For large projects, there may be a hierarchical structure where different groups are responsible for different sub-projects

Describing groups Described on 3 levels (Constantine, 1993): Operational level, the level of observed behavior Process level, the structures which leads to patterns in observed behavior. E.g. the way in which a report is written is done according an instruction. Paradigm level, the model and culture that influence the organization and the behavior of a group. The whole of assumptions that form the basis of the structure and way of working of an organization is called the organization paradigm. Oxford English Dictionary: "a pattern or model, an exemplar." Merriam-Webster dictionary: “a philosophical or theoretical framework of any kind”

Organization paradigm: 4 extremes RANDOM Innovative Independent OPEN Adaptive Collaboration Group Cohesion CLOSED Traditional Hierarchy SYNCHRONOUS Harmony in same direction Intrinsic Flexibility Antithese

Traditional hierarchy • also called closed paradigm • standards and rules of operation aim at increasing continuity and stability • a control mechanism prohibits deviations from norms and patterns • structured as a hierarchical pyramid with clearly described tasks, authorizations and responsibilities • Information streams are strongly controlled and decisions of managers are passed downwards to be executed. • The general goals of the organizations are leading • Examples are the military or government • usable for teams which have to solve routine tactical problems

Innovative, Independent • antithesis of the traditional hierarchy • also called random paradigm • direction and decision process of the project organization is dependent on independent initiatives of the individuals • directed towards innovation and creative autonomy • the freedom of the individual with as goal creative and independent operation is more important than the collective goals • examples are research&development departments of large companies or project teams which have to develop completely new products • especially suited for teams that have to realize creative breakthroughs

Adaptive collaboration • also called open paradigm • a synthesis between the random and the closed paradigm. • innovation is integrated with collective goals by means of discussions and negotiations. • it is a model of equal partnership in which roles and responsibilities are shared and assigned in a flexible way • the open paradigm is especially suited for teams which have to solve complex problems

Synchronous paradigm • working in harmony • the antithesis of the open paradigm. • team members share a common vision of a common goal and a way of working to achieve that goal • such a group maintains its common and parallel action by means of silent agreement and shared knowledge of what should be achieved and how • Example is a group of agricultural workers busy getting the harvest in • Especially suited for teams that must achieve repeated critical performance

Exercise A.Which paradigm is best suited for a software team? B. Which paradigm best fits your own GIP team?

Web Engineering team • Content developers/providers • Web publisher • Web engineer • Business domain experts • Support specialist • Administrator, the web master

Kolb Concrete Experience Feeling Accommodating (feel and do) CE/AE Diverging (feel and watch) CE/RO Perception Continuum how we think about things Active ExperimentationDoing Reflective ObservationWatching Processing Continuum how we do things Converging (think and do) AC/AE Assimilating (think and watch) AC/RO Abstract ConceptualisationThinking Kolb's learning styles

Belbin Team roles Action Social Thinking Completer Finisher Co-ordinator Monitor Evaluator Implementer Resource Investigator Plant Shaper Teamworker Specialist The 9 Belbin Team Roles are:

R&D SDM 1 Software Project Management Team Management Project organizations